Between Love and Destiny
by Icepath94
Summary: Which would you choose? Rated for character death.
1. Distant memories

**Distant memories**

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An old dream rammed into her mind and she pulled away from Aang violently. It filled her mind and left her with a headache and screaming. Everyone stopped what they were doing, and rushed over to her. "No... No!" she cried and bent down to a kneeling position, clutching her hair, while Aang stood by, totally helpless. "Aang! What did you do to my sister?!" Sokka screamed, but was drowned out by a heart-breaking screech from Katara. He noticed a pool of water beneath Katara's head, and realised she was crying, but none of them could do anything. The next thing they knew, she was lying on the ground, unconscious. Aang crouched next to her, stroking her hair, wondering if he should bring her back to her room. "Bring her back to her room, Aang, and get her some water." The airbender complied without hesitation.

When Katara woke up, the first thing she saw was a blue arrow, and then two gray orbs staring at her. She realised it was Aang, and sat up, only to be pushed down gently. He asked, "Katara, what happened just now?" All at once, her mind regained the memories of what happened. She screamed, a short, piercing one this time, and fell off her bed, desperate to get away from Aang as much as possible. "Stay away from me if you know what's good for you." she said with a trembling voice, tears rolling down her tanned skin. And then she broke down. Aang was confused, but he still walked over to her and stroked her gently. She flinched at his touch and attempted to run away. If she weren't so weak then, she would have succeeded. And because she was so weak, Aang managed to get her back onto her bed and get her to sleep. He went outside to tell the others.

Katara laid on the bed, feeling very guilty that he was treating her with so much love and care. She closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep, if only so he'll leave her alone. She opened her eyes once he left her room, and stared at the ceiling, thinking of the last time the same thing happened.

_-Flashback-_

_They were on the balcony of the play house on ember island. Aang was leaning closer to her, eyes close. Katara was too busy thinking of her task to notice so. When their lips contacted, a distant memory wove itself into her mind, and she immediately pulled away, shouting, "I said I was confused!"_

_-end flashback-_

What he didn't know was the reason she kept pulling away. She thought back to her dream, that night when she found Aang in the iceberg.

_-Flashback-_

_It was very dark, she could not see anything. Then she did. A solitary glow in the distance. It was moving closer. Closer to her own glow. Then she left her body and watched as the two orbs of light collided, and one died out. The next thing she knew, she was in a garden. Her mother was standing in front of her. Her mother opened her mouth, and said, "my dear child, you have a mission to fulfill. You must destroy the Avatar. You need to first master all 4 elements." "But mum, I don't want to destroy the Avatar! He brings hope to the world! Also, why would I want to destroy an innocent human? And how am I supposed to master 4 elements in less than 6 years when even the Avatar takes about 2 years to master just one! And I have to find the Avatar, and he has been missing for a hundred years now, do you think it's so easy for me to just stumble upon him suddenly? I will not do it!" _

_-end flashback-_

But in the end, she had mastered all 4 elements. Now she just had to destroy Aang, and she would have fulfilled her destiny! Simple, if only she had not fallen in love with him. Now she just feels more conflicted. Why, oh why did there have to be such a task for her to complete? She absent-mindedly played with a cyclone.

Aang came in again, to discover her playing with the air. She was twirling her fingers around, making a mini cyclone. He felt his jaw drop and let out a squeak, which she heard and quickly dropped her fingers, letting the cyclone settle back into calm air. "You... But... How... What... Katara! What were you doing?!" he nearly screamed. "What did you see, Aang? Was I doing something weird? It must be your imagination." she dismissed it, but her heart was thumping in her chest, threatening to jump out of her mouth. Aang gave her a skeptical look, and let the subject drop. "Go to sleep. You need to recover from the shock." She nodded and fell back into bed, letting him put her blankets on.

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	2. Suspicion

**Suspicion**

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Katara snuck out of the house and out to a deserted area which no one knew of, and practised her bending. She first meditated, feeling for any vibrations nearby. When the area was confirmed clear, she began, practising waterbending first. She stayed practising that, just in case anyone had been following her. Finally, she ran out of techniques to work on, and began to do some earthbending, in small amounts. All the time, she felt someone had been watching her, but dismissed the thought when no one jumped out at her even when she finished earthbending training. Eventually, she was done with all exercises and headed back home, still a little on her toes, expecting someone to suddenly jump out of the shadows.

Katara managed to reach home to everyone eating breakfast. They all muttered a sleepy greeting, still too tired to wonder what she had been doing outside. Only Aang was wide awake, and jumped out of his chair at the sight of her return, pulling out her chair and gesturing for her to sit down. Katara sat down and he went to the kitchen to get her food. Even though his actions were as usual, his face said otherwise. His smile never reached his eyes; they stayed a lifeless gray. After breakfast, Aang took Katara by her wrists and brought her outside to the garden. "Where are they going?" Sokka asked Toph, who merely shrugged. They ignored that and continued to dwell at the breakfast table with the others.

Once outside, Aang grabbed a rock when Katara wasn't looking, letting her go ahead. Aware that he wasn't beside her anymore, Katara turned around to see a rock flying towards her at breakneck speed. Without any thought, she stopped it with a wave of her hands, then immediately realising her mistake. She saw Aang's jaw drop, and then quickly recover to ask, "Katara, why didn't you tell me?" "About what?" Katara whispered, looking very sorry. "That you could bend all four elements, just like me!" "Well... Aang, I'm sorry, but what was I supposed to tell you? That I was an Avatar assassin?" she quickly covered her mouth, realising what she said in a moment's rage. Tears quickly escaped her eyes as she ran away, aided by the wind, and Aang slumped down the tree, still not believing what he had heard.

She was not seen for the rest of the day, and he was seen in such a depressed state Sokka would rather not see him at all. No one knew what had truly happened, except Toph, who just so happened to sense them outside at that moment. She went to see Aang, who had just recently locked himself up in his room, and found him sitting on his bed, talking to himself, "So she only came with me to get close with the Avatar, so that she could kill me in my sleep? But then why didn't she kill me straight away? There were definitely many different chances! Or maybe she was trying to break me down so I'd let my guard down! No... I know!" "Aang!" Toph shouted, and felt him jump. "Toph! I didn't realise you were there! What are you doing here, anyways?" "I came to see if you were ok, and apparently you're not. Look, I know what happened just now, and I feel sorry for you. I mean, how many unlucky guys fall in love with a girl who was out to kill him... Sorry, I wasn't thinking." Toph bit her lip in embarrassment, and also to keep herself from spouting more insensitive things. "Well, think about it. Katara was at every training session that you had since you began learning all the other elements, so that's where she picked them up. And she has watched you in airbending action so many times she can repeat the movements in her sleep! Plus she had the gift to learn them, so, there you have it!" Toph reasoned with Aang. "I... Didn't know... Anyways why does she want to murder me?" "Now that I don't know, but I think you should find her and talk it out without any shouting, screaming, bending, and certainly no accusations. Wow... Where did I get that from?" Toph wondered, amused, but he had already run off in search of that girl who had broke his heart.

Of course, she was really hard to find. The moment he thought he had any lead on her whereabouts, she just disappears into thin air. Furthermore, he realised she had taken his glider, which gave her an edge over long distances. It was like she was avoiding him on purpose. But then again, she was!

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	3. Final decision

**Final decision**

* * *

6 long years of their on and off cat and mouse game left both sides exhausted. Katara was tired of and from running and dodging, Aang was sick of her game of hide-and-seek. So one night, Aang waited for her vibrations to settle, indicating she was asleep, before carrying on with his plan. That night she was so tired she didn't bother to look for metal or wood to sleep on. She did not even attempt to look for higher grounds which could only be reached by a glider. Those were all methods of sleeping when she knew he was hot on her tail. Katara had lost him before, when she flew over large bodies of water while he had to rent a ship which was much slower than flying. It hurt her to have to run away from the one she loved, but she had to do it. For him. Somehow, he always managed to find her no matter where she had been hiding, and she would be on the run again.

Aang secured her fingers and wrists firmly into the ground, and rose her feet above the ground before closing earth around her ankles. He also bent earth around her mouth such that she could talk but not bend. Katara woke up in that awkward position, and immediately realised she was prisoner. She stopped fighting, and turned to look at her captor. "Aang! Please, you have to let me go! I don't want to have to kill you so I'm running away! Please, I don't know anymore than you do, so just stay away from me! I know, run as far away from me as possible and strengthen the restrains so I cannot escape and you can live!" she pleaded and spoke at an incredibly fast pace until she was out of breath. "Katara I'm not going anywhere until you give me some answers. Answers which you owe me from 6 years ago. Katara, why would you want to kill me?" he asked with a sorrowful crack in his voice. "Oh Aang, do you think I WANT To kill you? I..." she was but off by an intense pain pulsing through her body. She looked up at the full moon. "Oh, I'm not sure if this is right now, but, happy birthday... You know, it's midnight and all..." Aang looked away as she took in what he just said. "It's my birthday... I'm turning 20..." she whispered, her tanned skin paled. "You won't have to worry about me anymore, Aang." "What do you mean?" he asked, suspiciously, but she only shook her head. For a captor, Aang really listened and paid attention to his prisoner's every move and requests. Throughout the night and the next morning, the two existed in each other's company, secretly enjoying it, but that emotion was suppressed by the fact that Katara was destined to kill Aang. Even though he tried his best to pry answers from Katara, Aang only got vague and incomplete ones from her.

Dusk came. Katara was still stuck in that position, but now leaning her head against Aang's chest. Why do things have to be this way? Katara sighed at how unfair the world was.

Suddenly, a rumble sounded from behind them. Aang scrambled to get to his feet and spun around, grabbing his glider in the process. He saw the disturbance and recognised it as Koh the face-stealing spirit. Quickly composing his face, he told Katara, "Do not show any emotion at all, or he'll take your face." "Doesn't matter anyways..." she mumbled, but expressionlessly. Turning back to the monster, he shouted, "What do you want?" Koh looked around, and changed his face to a beautiful lady's, which Aang realised was Avatar Kuruk's wife. The lady spoke, "Ah, sunset. The time the veil between the human and spirit world thins." and the face changed to a teenager's, and the giant millipede bent down to look at Katara, "And such a pretty lady here, what are you doing so helpless? Did the big bad Avatar bind you up? Never mind, I'll release you." and with a wave of about ten of his legs she was free, but was screaming," No please don't release me." in a flat tone, really trying to keep a straight face. Looking down, Katara realised she was still freed, so she decided to make full use of that. Raising a finger, she spun it around and created a sandstorm and blew dust into the spirit's eyes. Then she binded him with her native element drawn from the air. She stuck all his legs into earth, preventing him from earthbending. The agitated and irritated spirit shouted," foolish girl! Just because I cannot steal your face does not mean you can avoid your destiny! For I am the oldest spirit, and will not be defeated by 2 children!" and with that, he passed right through the elementals and headed straight for Katara. Katara felt herself leave her body, floating in the air. On the ground, she saw her body, possessed by Koh, getting ready to strike at Aang. "No!!!" she screamed, and tried to bend. It worked, but only a little. She had managed to strap down the hands of her body to the ground. Aang took that as a hint, and began to secure her body down like before. But Koh always escaped. "Aang! Whatever you do, do not go into Avatar state! That's what he wants!" Katara shouted above all the commotion.

Aang heard Katara-the-spirit, but could not help as the Avatar spirit took over. Katara-Koh smiled with and evil look in her eyes, and raised her hands. Katara's eyes widened as she realised what she was going to do. Aang was levitating above grounds now, and her hands twisted slightly. The air was filled with a blood-curdling scream, as Aang's body was binded together by an invisible force. He could feel his body being torn apart, limb by limb, and he saw Katara standing there, holding her hands out. Katara-the-spirit could feel her anger boiling up within her, and began to summon all her spirit energy. In the last moment before Koh twisted her hands more, she sped down, slicing through the air and reclaimed her body, booting Koh out. Regaining control, she released Aang from her grasp and made an air cushion for him to fall on. "You are to go back to the spirit world and never come back to disturb Aang again! Underst... AAAAAHHHH!!" Katara arched backwards and let out a scream.

Dusk had been over for a while for two hours now. Aang crouched over the lifeless body of the girl he had loved. He begged her to wake up, but to no avail. Now he was just waiting, on the verge of giving up. Another hour passed, and Katara's eyes suddenly opened. Aang was sitting beside her, looking at her. "Hey." hey both said at the same time, then looked away in embarrassment. Aang broke the silence, "So... Did you have a good sleep? I mean... Koh is gone. Back to the spirit world. Should we in back too? I don't care if you were supposed to kill me, cause you just saved my life, and I... Katara, I love you." he looked down, wondering if she shared the sentiment. Katara looked down too, and began to say something. "Hey, erm, Aang? I have something to tell you. You know, I think Koh is behind the whole assassination thing. And it was my mother who told me to do it. Wait, let me finish. Also... There's something else you need to know." they sat in awkward silence, Katara wondering if she should tell him, Aang waiting for her to continue. "This... Task to destroy you, I have to complete before my twentieth birthday passes. Or I'll die. So what I have to tell you is this." she paused, and continued, "I love you too. But since the start, I was meant to kill you. That was why I was so confused, and refused to accept that fact. But, shh, let me finish. But I realised no one can run away from love. So I ran away from you, knowing we could never be together. I hoped that by escaping from you long enough till I had past my twentieth birthday, you would live. Trust me, I would never hurt you, let alone take your life. Also, I never meant to fall in love with you. Even if I didn't, I wouldn't kill the world's saviour. Despite the purpose of my life, I trust in the Avatar more than anyone else. Huh... Love makes you stupid, I guess." she softly chuckled. By now Aang was crying and hugging her, and so she returned the action. "But Katara, I don't want you to die! If you kill me, you won't have to! So kill me! At least the Avatar spirit will live on!" "If I kill you I will lose my will to live, so I might as well die. And I'm not to only kill you. I was sent to destroy the Avatar forever. If I only kill you, Koh would just send another here to kill the next Avatar! But if I don't kill you, you can live and be able to defeat the next person who tries to kill you. You know, he or she would be years younger. Oh look. The full moon has risen." she retaliated from Aang's arms and pushed her lips against his. They kissed one last time, deeply and passionately, under the moonlight. Their scents filled the air as Katara fell motionless in his arms, beginning to fade away. He watched as she left him, vaguely hearing her voice in the soft wind, whispering, " Goodbye Aang. I love you."

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-The End-

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	4. Explanations

**

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**

Explanations

Katara is a spirit sent to the human world by Koh, through Hakoda and Kya. When Kya left the human world, Koh told her of Katara's destiny and Kya, not wanting Katara to die as well, passed on the message through dreams. But she never expected Aang to be the avatar, and especially not for Katara to fall in love with him.

For more clarifications, review this chapter and I will add the answer in. You can also ask about the book of air, but I will not answer if it's going to be revealed in future chapters, like about the moonstaff. Muahahahahaha!

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End file.
